Spanish rider Juan Ayuso pulled on the leader’s yellow jersey on Tuesday after the third stage of the Paris-Nice cycling race.
Ineos Grenadiers, led by Kevin Vauquelin and Oscar Onley, won the team time-trial at Pouilly-sur-Loire with Ayuso’s Lidl-Trek outfit second.
Frenchman Vauquelin powered his team to a big finish in the 23.5km ride through the Nievre in central France giving the British team a two-second advantage on Lidl-Trek.
“I would have loved to take the yellow jersey but there’s still a very, very tough week to go, so I have to look ahead,” said 24-year-old Vauquelin.
Decathlon CMA-CGM were third at 11sec with double Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard’s Visma-Lease a bike team fourth at 15sec.
Ayuso took the yellow jersey from American Luke Lamperti thanks to the four bonus seconds gained in the intermediate sprint on Monday.
The Spaniard finished the day with a two-second edge over Vauquelin, who started the stage 24th overall, and three seconds over Briton Onley, who jumped from 63rd.
Vauquelin is hoping to give France a first winner in the ‘Race to the Sun’ since Laurent Jalabert in 1997 with poor conditions expected.
“I feel really good,” said Vauquelin.
“Especially since the weather is going to turn bad, and I think that’s an advantage for me, unlike riders like Jonas Vingegaard or Juan Ayuso who are more climbers.”
Ayuso has his eyes fixed on the Tour de France in July.
“That’s even the reason I decided to come here and also to the Dauphine (in June),” said the Spaniard.
“It’s very important to get some benchmarks in preparation for the Tour de France, and our performance gives me a lot of confidence.”
Ayuso has a 17sec lead on Vingegaard but remains wary with five days to go to the finish in Nice on Sunday.
“Seventeen seconds is not negligible, but we know it’s likely to be complicated from tomorrow onwards with the weather.
“It’s far from over.”
Wednesday’s fourth stage will be a flat 195km run from Bourges to Uchon with an uphill finale for the first summit finish in this year’s race.
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